Lumix USA officially published a teaser for a May 22 product announcement event. According to L-rumors.com we are getting this:
Panasonic Lumix S9:
- compact Full Frame L-mount camera
- a bit more compact than Fuji X100VI
- no integrated EVF
- 24MP sensor of the S5II
- dedicated LUT button on camera to select your style
- possibility to upload your own LUT styles
- four different body color versions
- $200-$300 cheaper than S5II
- Announcement on may 22 at 3pm London time
- Curiosity: The Ai design in ny video is a mockup, but I have been told it’s actually pretty close to the real cam!)
New L-mount lens:
- no info yet about what it is but it could be a compact lens for the S9
The camera is aimed at “content creators” and people who want ot have a very compact camera.
The three cool aspects of the camera are:
1) Compact Size:
The Lumix S9 is just a tiny bit smaller than the X100VI (also because it gets rid of the EV). Yes, you still need to buy an extra lens for it but we have some nice option with the Sigma DG DN contemporary lineup (Click here). Overall this will make it barely bigger than the Fuji.
2) LUT style:
The camera LUT’s capability should also attract those Fujifilm customers that love to use their own film recipes.
3) Price:
Now compact camera lovers can buy the Lumix S9 instead of a Ricoh GR or FujiFilm X100VI. it will have about the same size, about the same price but you get the benefit of higher Image Quality thanks to the use of the excellent 25Mp Full Frame sensor.
My take:
I am not a real “content creator”. I can’t really say if this camera will be a hit or miss. As a photographer I miss the integrated EVF. Still, if this is a camera that you can truly carry always in your pocket…this might be something cool for us photographers too don’t you think?